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Egyptian authorities freed the No. 2 of the banned Muslim Brotherhood movement after detaining him for three months. According to AFP, the high state security prosecutor ordered the release of Mahmud Ezzat Saturday on a bail of EP2,000 (US$345). Eight other Muslim Brothers activists were relased at the same time, judicial sources added Sunday.

"He was freed yesterday and is now in his home," senior Brotherhood official Mohammed Habib confirmed to AFP.

Ezzat, a 64-year-old professor of medicine at Zagazig Universty, in northern Egypt, was jailed in the past after being charged twice of "endangering state security and plotting to topple the regime." Ezzat was the highest-profile arrest from the Movement since 1996. He was detained on the eve of a referendum on planned electoral changes, which the Brotherhood called to boycott.